The age old battle between the sexes for driving supremacy appears to have been settled.

The debate over whether men or women are safer on the road has raged across the dashboard since driving licences were introduced in 1903.

EXPERT: Amanda Stretton, of Confused.com, says women are less likely to commit a motoring offence.

Now New data obtained by Confused.com has found that women in Yorkshire and the Humber are in fact safer drivers than men.

This conclusion comes from an analysis of car insurance data in the region, as well as recorded motoring offences in the region – the majority of which were committed by men.

A total of 77,122 drivers across Yorkshire and the Humber appeared in court for motoring offences in 2017. But men are the worst culprits, accounting for a 61,706 (80 per cent) of the offences, compared to 15,416 women.

West Yorkshire accounted for the most number of offences in the region, with 49,301 motorists appearing in court. Men were once again the worst offenders, outweighing women almost four to one. In total, 38,705 male motorists reportedly broke the law on the road, compared to just 10,596 women.

Amanda Stretton, motoring editor at Confused.com, said: “Many men are under the impression they are ‘better’ drivers than women. However, our research clears up the age-old debate - women are less likely to commit a motoring offence or make a claim, meaning they pay less for their car insurance.

“Regardless of whether men or women are paying more for car insurance, it’s an unavoidable cost which is making motoring less and less affordable.”

Even though insurers no longer take a driver’s gender into account when calculating the cost of their car insurance, when you look at the difference in the average premium between men and women, male drivers are still paying more.

But men across the UK will be relieved to know the gap has slowly been closing between what they pay for car insurance compared to women.